Wildcat strike puts abrupt halt to Ananda Bazar Patrika presses

When a wildcat strike put an abrupt halt to the Ananda Bazar Patrika presses, which also print two other dailies, it was expected that the Government would intervene and get the presses rolling once again. But till last fortnight, the strike showed no signs of being lifted.

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Indranil Banerjie

June 15, 1984

ISSUE DATE: June 15, 1984

UPDATED: April 21, 2014 15:10 IST

Striking workers: Minority support

The country's highest circulated Bengali daily Ananda Bazar Patrika has never been popular with any government in power in West Bengal, and the Left Front is no exception. Senior members of the Government have often denounced the newspaper as the epitome of the "degenerate bourgeoise press".

Still, when a wildcat strike put an abrupt halt to the Ananda Bazar Patrika presses - which also print two other dailies The Telegraph and Business Standard and Sunday magazine it was expected that the Government would intervene and get the presses rolling once again. But till last fortnight, the strike - which began on April 25 - showed no signs of being lifted.

The strike was sparked off by the management's decision to employ a few casual labourers to load the dak editions of the Ananda Bazar while the union was holding its meeting. While versions differ, it appears that union members and the labourers led by the motor vehicles department supervisor scuffled and some persons from both sides were injured. Angry union members are alleged to have smashed printing plates, compelling the works manager to issue an order stopping the presses.

The strike has inevitably raised questions of hidden political motives. "How can an illegal strike by a minority union continue for so long without some sort of support from the Government?" asks Aveek Sarkar, proprietor and the managing editor of the Ananda Bazar group of publications.

He is convinced that a section of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leadership has engineered the strike. A major plank of the Congress(I) election campaign for the Belgachia assembly constituency seat was the Ananda Bazar affair.

Union Railway Minister A.B.A. Ghani Khan Choudhury in his campaign speeches said that press censorship during the Emergency was responsible for the Congress(I) defeat in 1977, and the Left Front's attempt at muzzling the press would only boomerang. Sure enough CPI(M) stalwart Lakshmi Sen was defeated.

The striking union, however, denies having any links with the CPI(M) or its trade union wing, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). Benoy Krishna Choudhury senior minister of the Left Front Cabinet feels the allegations are unwarranted. "We did not plan the strike, it was a wildcat strike," he says.

The Government's point is that the strike has been called by the only recognised non-journalists union of the publishing house. The other two unions, though unrecognized by the management have greater support: out of a total 1,500 employees, 1,300 have signed a petition against the strike.

All the same, the fact remains that a few prominent leaders of the striking union - called the Ananda Bazar Group of Publication Employees Union - are members of the CPI(M). Moreover, a secretariat member of the CITU, Jaygopal Roy, who is also leader of the West Bengal Newspaper Employees Federation (WBNEF), has shown an inordinate interest in the strike.

Roy has been present at most of the tripartite meetings held with the state Labour Minister Krishnapada Ghosh and Benoy Choudhury. "How can Roy, who is not an Ananda Bazar employee, take part in the meetings?" wonders Aveek Sarkar. The strikers claim that Roy is involved because of his position in the WBNEF, with which the union is linked.

Benoy Choudhury admits that the CPI(M) has a group in the striking union but says "it is not strong enough to influence the union to call off the strike". There are many theories floating around about the CPI(M)'s motives behind its indirect support for the strike, but it seems quite plausible that senior Left Front leaders do not want the strike and have been embarrassed by it.

Says the 34-year-old Editor of Sunday and The Telegraph, M.J. Akbar: "I heard the chief minister was livid when he learnt of the strike and when I met him he assured me it would be lifted."

Since the strike has not yet been lifted, the suspicion that a section of the CPI(M) has got out of control of the party's senior leadership is confirmed, says Akbar. Benoy Choudhury, in a meeting with management and strikers representatives on May 18, had suggested that the strike be called off the next day and simultaneously negotiations started.

"But there can be no question of any negotiations considering the strike is totally illegal", asserts Arup Sarkar, general manager of the group.

"The management refused to talk to us, although we wanted to settle the unpleasant happenings immediately," says Deban Ganguly, the joint secretary of the striking union. Insisting that the union does not want the newspapers to remain closed, Ganguly says, it is the management that is keeping the paper shut by its adamant attitude.

The union is sore at the management for not sharing allegedly increased earnings with workers, for reducing its fleet of cars and retrenching 67 employees of the Ananda Offset Unit, which was burned down by a mysterious fire during the Puja holidays last year.

But all the demands apart from the three regarding the incidents on 24th evening were added on only a few days later when the union officially declared a strike. Arup Sarkar professes that the management has always been willing to discuss all the workers' demands, apart from pension and enhanced gratuity, but believes that at stake is a moral issue. He asks: "Should we bow down to a handful of workers who have taken the law into their own hands?"

Employees who are not supporting the strike have taken to the streets to protest and inform the public about what is happening to the Ananda Bazar Group of Publications, which includes The Telegraph, Business Standard, Ravivar, Sunday, Business World, Sportsworld, Desh, Anandalok and Anandamela.

The major local dailies have so far carried no news of the strike. "All newspapers except The Economic Times and Sonmarg refused to carry our advertisement explaining the reasons for the strike," says an indignant Arup Sarkar.

At any rate Calcuttans are coming to know of the goings-on in the Ananda Bazar group, thanks to the five rallies organised in different parts of the city by the non-strikers since May 11. Most employees, including journalists are in desperate straits considering that they have not been paid for the month of April. Last year, there had been four days of token strike by the non-journalists union and the management had deducted the wages of all employees, including journalists.

Asked whether non-striking journalists would be paid for this strike, Arup Sarkar confesses: "I have not considered the matter as yet." Until the matter is settled, strikers and non-strikers alike will evidently have to wait out the period of uncertainty together.

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